Tagging
Up-to-date with version 2.2.4989 MusicBee provides a number of ways to edit track details (formally known as , informally known as tags). You can edit any field you have displayed as a column in the main panel by selecting the track and then clicking once on the field. (If you dislike this feature, you can disable it in Tag Preferences.) If you edit the currently playing track, changes will not be saved until a new track plays or playback is stopped. For more comprehensive editing features, see below. Tag Editor You can open the tag editor for any track or group of tracks by selecting them, right clicking, and choosing "Edit" from the menu. There is also a hotkey for this command (Shift+Enter by default). If you edit more than one track at once, there will be a check box next to each field. If you change a field, it will be automatically checked and the value will be applied to all the tracks. Fields which have differing values will be shown as blank, and checking this box will clear them all. Both these operations will overwrite any existing values in the field. The tag editor can be shown as a floating window or docked at the bottom of the main panel. Each tab of the editor is shown below, along with a list of how the tags are saved to the file for some common formats. Tag standards refer to the expected format of metadata in a file, in our case audio files. Standards provide a common syntax that allows tags to be read and edited across multiple programs and devices. Each file format has a particular tagging standard: * for MP3 and WAV **ID3v2.3 is the most common, but MusicBee also supports v1 and v2.4 * for FLAC and Ogg Vorbis *proprietary formats for WMA and AAC *MusicBee will read but not write tags Properties The properties tab mostly shows descriptive file info that cannot be edited directly. However, you can choose to change the date added to the MB database, encoder info, and play/skip counts if you wish. You can also add or edit source website info, and filename unless you're using Auto-Organise. Due to reduced space, Date Modified, Last Played, and Play/Skip Count are not available when the tag editor is docked in the main panel. Tags This tab shows major info about the track like Title, Artist, etc. You can also set Track and Album rating, and you can use the artwork frame here to add artwork just like the one on the tab. Multiple Value Tags MusicBee allows multiple values to be stored for many tag fields. Each value is separated using a semicolon (;). For example, entering 'Justin Timberlake; Ciara' would store both artists and include both artists separately in places like Artists View and the Column Browser. You can also click the ... button to open a multiple value editor. Splitter screens are limited by the size of your monitor; if they get to the point that they're not displaying correctly, you should use the to continue. The Artist and Composer fields also allow you to enter a special Display tag, which is shown in the Tag Editor and the corresponding fields in your library, while preserving split tag values in the file. For example, you might prefer to display 'Justin Timberlake ft. Ciara' while splitting the artists. If the Artist value is currently saved as 'Justin Timberlake ft. Ciara', opening the Multiple Artist Splitter and pressing the Split button will automatically separate the artists for you, while leaving the original value as the Display Artist. The artist splitter further allows you to choose a role for the artists listed and adjusts the tags accordingly: Artist, Performer, Guest Artist, or Remixer. See Special Fields for how to use split artist values in columns, templates, and so on. The genre splitter is also unique in that it has a special "Suggested Genres" button, which will show you some of the top genres for that track from last.fm and let you choose to apply them. Tip: To add or remove a specific value from a multi-value field on several tracks where there are differing values (so that using the Tag Editor would cause the differing values to be lost), you can use the Tag Inspector. Tip: When scrobbling to last.fm, MusicBee uses the Display Artist value. If you need to change your tags to match last.fm but don't want to change your official Artist tag, you can use the Display Artist for last.fm and keep your preferred Artist tag in the multiple artist splitter. Tags (2) This tab contains supplementary information about the track, including up to 16 Custom Tags of your choice. Quality, Tempo, Mood and Occasion have lists of values you can choose from, or you can enter your own. Using the "..." button next to Keywords will populate it with values from the last.fm tag cloud. You can also enter your own, but use a comma to separate them instead of the usual semicolon. Sort Artist and Sort Album Artist are actually Custom Tags which are pre-configured, but can be changed if you prefer not to use them. Artwork The Artwork tab in the tag editor allows you to add one or more pictures using a number of methods: * Copy & paste or drag & drop an image from your computer * Click the Add button and choose a picture from your computer * Right click on the artwork frame and select 'Search Internet' - MusicBee will search the artwork providers you have enabled On adding a picture you will be prompted to choose how the picture is to be stored (unless you have unchecked "confirm picture storage options when adding artwork" in General Preferences): * embed picture in the music file: The picture is saved into the music file. You might want to use this option to ensure the picture is never lost when you copy the file. * link this picture to the music track: save the picture separately from the music and have MusicBee associate the two ** save to folder.jpg: The picture is saved to the same folder as the music file and named folder.jpg (which is a windows standard). Keep in mind however that the picture can be overridden when using other applications (eg. Windows Media Player). ** link to an organised copy of the picture: The picture is copied and named using a naming template. * choose the same next time without asking: Copies your settings to Tags (1) and unticks "confirm picture storage options when adding artwork". You can add artwork in a lot of ways, but this tab of the Tag Editor is the only place you can set the artwork type to anything other than "Album Cover". Types available are: *Album Cover *Album Cover (back) *Leaflet Page *Media Label *Lead Artist *Artist *Conductor *Band *Composer *Lyricist *Recording Location *During Recording *During Performance *Video Screen Capture *Illustration *Band Logotype *Publisher Logotype Enter comments about the artwork Make the ticked image the image shown in most places for this track/album. Lyrics Only MP3s offer a way to save synchronised and unsynchronised lyrics separately. Checking "mark as having no lyrics" will keep MusicBee from searching for lyrics for that track. Settings This tab lets you adjust various settings for the track. You can use this slider instead of or in addition to Volume Analysis, to fine tune the volume of specific tracks. Choose a specific equaliser preset that will always be applied to a track or tracks. Will prevent a track from playing under some or all circumstances: *'Full Ban:' track will always be skipped *'Only when shuffling:' track will not be included when shuffling or using Auto DJ You can apply special handling to tracks marked as iTunes compilations in Sorting & Grouping preferences. The whole album will play in order, even when shuffling. Tick to make MusicBee start the track from the spot where it last stopped (i.e. to keep your spot in audiobooks, podcasts, etc) If you adjust the start or end time for the track, the parts of the track not between the start and end times will not be played. These buttons will cause MusicBee to try to detect silent periods at the start and end of the track and adjust the start/end times accordingly. Tag Editor Menu Tag Inspector The Tag Editor allows you to edit most common tags in a music file and the specific custom tags you have configured in MusicBee, but there may be other tags attached to your files that are not shown. The Tag Inspector lets you access all tags attached to a file (except artwork). You can also add, delete, and edit tags in the Tag Inspector. An important difference between editing in the Tag Editor and the Tag Inspector, is that tags added or removed with the Tag Inspector will not overwrite other tags in the same field for the selected files. To open it, use the menu across the top of the Tag Editor (or the drop-down menu, if docked in the main panel). *Click the +''' button to add a new tag to the music file. You will be prompted to select the id for a predefined tag or enter a new name if you require, and then the tag value. *Click the '''... button to edit the selected tag value. *Click the '-' button to delete the selected tag. *If multiple files are selected, adding, editing, or deleting tags will affect all selected tracks. Ticking the box in front of an existing tag will apply it to all selected tracks. Auto-Tagging Auto-tagging uses online databases to tag albums or tracks. Copying Tags and Replacing Files The menu action Edit > Copy Tags (hotkey Ctrl+Shift+C) will copy the tags of a selected file but leave out any artwork, ratings and the number of times the track has been played or skipped. However, you can set up another hotkey to copy all this including tags from Preferences > Hotkeys > Edit: Copy Tags, Artwork, Play Counters and Rating. Edit > Paste or Ctrl+V will paste the copied tags into another track. You can also choose to replace a file with another file, while leaving the tags of the replaced file intact. This command is in the Send To menu. The file you replace will be deleted and the new file will be given the same file path, location in playlists, and tags as the deleted file. (Tags not shown in the Tag Editor will not be retained - make sure you configure any fields you want to keep as custom tags.) Remove Tags You can remove any of the built-in tags or Custom Tags, artwork, or lyrics by selecting the track(s) and opening the , clearing the relevant field and making sure the box next to it is ticked. The lets you add, delete, and edit all tags attached to a file except artwork. You can also select tracks (or albums) and use the menu command Tools > Tagging Tools > Remove Tags, which will open a window with options to "remove all" or "remove specific tags" and a drop down menu to select which tags to remove. Category:Out-of-Date